That recreational drugs have become much more common than in the past is indisputable.
I suspect part of the reason is that many, notably meth, just weren't available. Of course, they weren't available largely because there was little demand.
Ran across an interesting statistic the other day. At the time of the Revolution, Americans consumed about 2.5x the alcohol we do today. Today that would make us the heaviest consumer of booze in the world by a considerable distance. Higher than Belarus or Russia.
Possibly some of the recreational use of drugs was displaced back then by higher use of alcohol.
How about that we now have a society and institutions that will help you and maintain you well beyond nature’s tolerance for dumb behavior?